Passionate advocacy for legal protection for all human life from biological beginning, through natural death.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

My Two Terri s

Terri, meet Terri. You don’t know one another but we all have somethingin common. I have had the pleasure to have been involved in heroic effortsto save you both from the Euthanasia movement’s diabolic plans to steal your lives.

Uncanny isn’t it?

Theresa Corrao and I crossed paths in 1996. My husband and I were just aboutto celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. One fateful day, I heard a pathologistnamed Paul Corrao on television stating that his sister Theresa was in a hospiceand was being severely overmedicated. He was trying to rescue her from the facilityand save her life. He mentioned one Susan Fox Buchanan – a Denver elder care “expert.”

Having sat in on numerous Governor’s Commission on Life and the Law meetingsin the late 1980s and early 1990s, that name jumped out at me as one heavily investedin the pro-death ethic that so permeated the beautiful state of Colorado in those years.

I contacted Paul Corrao and warned him that there was an insidious plan afoot in mystate that he should be aware of. From that point forward Paul and I worked togetherto save Theresa from those who sought to destroy her. After all, Theresa had signed an advanced directive waiving extraordinary care hadn’t she?

Paul and I persuaded Theresa that life was worth living and that she actually mightlike to sign a will to live. Unfortunately, Theresa Corrao had a severe bedsore thatneeded surgical repair. Ironically, she worked for the hospital where the surgerywould take place and she had insurance to cover it with her employer, Columbia HCA.

During the planning stages for the surgery, Paul, insisted that the surgery be performed under a local anesthesia. As a pathologist, he believed that his sister’s liver was quite compromised by her treatment for breast cancer as well as the extremely high amounts of morphine used in hospice prior to her leaving the facility. As Paul left the hospital the evening before the surgery, doctors approached Terri and persuaded her to agree to a general anesthetic, possibly stating that they wouldn’t be able to manage her pain with a local.

Theresa underwent approximately 5 hours of surgery that fateful day. As I entered her room post surgery to confer with Paul, death was in the air. As he had feared, her liver was unable to process the anesthesia from such a lengthy procedure. Theresa Corrao died shortly thereafter, destroyed by the pro-death movement in Colorado – progenitor of the euthanasia movement, nationally.

Terri Schiavo’s loved ones were holding a 24hour prayer vigil for her in front of herPinellas Park, FL hospice. This event was to thrust her into the international spotlight, where she would remain, for the next 18 months. During that period, I would travel to Florida five times to work, tirelessly, to save Terri’s life. I had the honor and pleasure to work alongside hundreds, if not thousands of individuals dedicated to helping Terri’s parents and siblings spare her life.

This incredible woman inspired us all to work to protect her from the insidious conspiracy by the so called “right to die” forces which found themselves in the perfect storm of circumstances arrayed to deliver Terri to their dark plot.

Former husband, Michael Schiavo, was able to persuade nearly every level of government, judiciary and media that she wouldn’t want to live as a disabledperson. Despite heroic efforts and prayers by pro-lifers and disability activistsin the US, it apparently wasn’t meant to be.

As a member of a team of lobbyists working to pass the “Jessie Jackson sip of water compromise” I am pleased to say that we never gave up, as long as Terri held on, fornearly 14 days without food or water – while not even an ice chip was allowed to quench her insatiable thirst.

Terri either passed or was pushed into eternity on March 31, 2005 at the end of Holy Week. She and her family taught us a lot about love, perseverance and dedication to family.

Her president and governor taught us they knew - little to nothing - about the constitution, which guaranteed Terri due process of law and religious liberty, as well as freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.

As our nation this week mourns the passing of Pope John Paul and tries to makesense of Terri’s senseless death and the Florida corruption which ensured it, I ponder the irony of losing 2 friends named Terri to a death machine that has its origin in my beautiful state, Colorado. Like the hospice grounds where Terri was held hostage for the past five years, what looks beautiful to the undiscerning eye, often has below the surface – deadly evil.

1 comment:

The first myth pertaining to this disease is that it only affects women.

Second myth that is associated with this disease is that if one has found a lump during an examination, it is cancer.

Third is that it is solely hereditary

The next myth associated with breast cancer is downright ridiculous. Would you believe, that in this day and age, some individuals still think that breast cancer is contagious?

Conversely, some individuals foolishly believe that breast size determines whether or not one gets cancer.

Finally, another myth that is associated with this disease is that it only affects older people. This is not so. Although the chance of getting breast cancer increases with age, women as young as 18 have been diagnosed with the disease.

You can find a number of helpful informative articles on Breast Cancer history at breast-cancer1.com